Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

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Biden Gives a Peek at What’s to Come for Cancer Moonshot

Anna Edney | Bloomberg Politics | June 29, 2016

A corporate-government partnership to improve U.S. veterans’ access to personalized cancer treatments will highlight a nationwide series of gatherings and events Wednesday detailing of Vice President Joe Biden’s “Cancer Moonshot” program. IBM Corp. will donate access to its “Watson” supercomputer -- best known for beating human champions on the television game show “Jeopardy!” -- to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The supercomputer will help provide facilitate oncology treatment for those who have served in the U.S. military, according to a statement from the White House...

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Bipartisan Bill Would Slash iEHR Funding

Erin McCann | Government Health IT | May 16, 2013

Members of Congress are lauding a bipartisan bill that limits funding for an integrated electronic health record system between VA and DoD and requires aggressive progress updates from both agencies, which have, in recent months, come under fire for the dilatory pace at which they're moving forward with the iEHR. Read More »

Blue Button Expands Access To Include CCDs, OpenNotes

Jennifer Bresnick | EHR Intelligence | January 30, 2013

The Department of Veterans Affairs [...] has just announced the addition of several new features to the patient portal [Blue Button]. In addition to overhauling its user interface and expanding its technical development, the VA is giving its patients access to continuity of care documents (CCD), as well as integrating an OpenNotes feature, which allows patients to view physician documentation. Read More »

Blue Button For America

Matthew McCall and Henry Wei | VAntage Point | February 5, 2013

In August 2010, President Obama announced the Blue Button in a speech to the national convention of Disabled American Veterans.  In his remarks, he said that “for the first time ever Veterans will be able to go to the VA website, click a simple Blue Button, and download or print your personal health records so you have that when you need them and can share that with your doctors outside of the VA.” Read More »

Blue Button Initiative Presents Issues For EHR Compatibility

Jennifer Bresnick | EHR Intelligence | October 24, 2012

The Automated Blue Button Initiative (ABBI), backed by the Department of Veterans Affairs and increasingly adopted by smaller providers, has been lauded for giving patients easy access to their electronic health records (EHRs) and fostering collaborative treatment... Read More »

Blue Button Is Powerful Tool For Patients

Press Release | PinsYourWay.com | November 8, 2012

The Blue Button program is more than just a VA initiative – it is a new way of thinking, writes a blogger dedicated to sharing the patient story. Read More »

Blue Button Mashup Challenge

Damon Davis | Health 2.0 | August 19, 2012

We recently announced a new Investing in Innovation (i2) competition that calls on developers to create an app that mashes up an individual’s Blue Button personal health data with open public health data that will result in better health care, better health, and lower costs.  ONC’s i2 program promotes the use of technology to find solutions that drive better outcomes, engage users in their health, and improve health care quality.

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Blue Button Reaches One Million Registered Patients

Press Release | Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) | August 31, 2012

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced today that, during the month of August, the one millionth patient has registered for Blue Button to access and download their Personal Health Record (PHR) information. “Since President Obama announced the availability of Blue Button two years ago, VA has worked tirelessly with our sister agencies to make online access to personal health records convenient, reliable, and safe.  I am very pleased with our progress,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. Read More »

Blue Button Set For Improvements

David Perera | FierceGovernmentIT | January 17, 2013

Federal health information technology officials highlighted Jan. 16 efforts to give patients the ability to download personal health record data via the Blue Button initiative. Read More »

Blue Button Technology Highlighted At Consumer Health IT Summit

Staff Writer | iHealthBeat | September 17, 2013

The Blue Button program for sharing patient data was a major focus of the Consumer Health IT Summit on Monday, Modern Healthcare reports. The summit kicked off National Health IT Week (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 9/16).

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Blue Button Technology Highlighted At Consumer Health IT Summit

Staff Writer | iHealthBeat | September 17, 2013

The Blue Button program for sharing patient data was a major focus of the Consumer Health IT Summit on Monday, Modern Healthcare reports Read More »

Boehner Says US Veterans' Claims System Is Broken

Lisa Cornwell | Yahoo! News | February 22, 2013

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner said the system for handling veterans' disability claims is broken and he wants the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs to explain what is being done to fix it. Read More »

Brand-Name Drugs Pushing Up US Medicare Costs: Survey

Lynne Taylor | PharmaTimes | June 12, 2013

People with diabetes who are enrolled in the US federal Medicare health programme are two to three times more likely to use "expensive" brand-name drugs than diabetes patients who are treated within the Veterans Administration (VA) Healthcare System, new research shows. Read More »

BridgeHead Announces Integrated Protection And Recovery For Cache® Databases

Press Release | BridgeHead Software | July 24, 2013

Extends BridgeHead Software's Rapid and Reliable Management of Hospital Data to the Many Healthcare Applications Built on InterSystems Cache® Databases Read More »

British Can Learn from VA on Telehealth

Joseph Conn | Modern Healthcare | January 19, 2012

A report by a London-based, physician-led think tank concludes that the British National Health Service would do well to emulate the telehealth services developed by the Veterans Health Administration, the healthcare operation of the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department.

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